Greek poet, Dionysios Solomos, is well known for writing the national anthem of Greece. But what else do we know about him? We share our top five facts.

1. His birth and early life:

Dionysios was born on April 8, 1798 the island of Zakynthos as the illegitimate son of Nicolaos Solomos, a wealthy noble. As a child, Dionysios studied under the supervision of several Greek scholars in Zakynthos before moving to Italy to study literature.

There, he met many eminent scholars who acquainted him with the works of Ancient Greek writers and philosophers namely Plato, Homer and Thucydides. It was the beginning of his glorious career.

2. Writing poems in Italian:

Dionysios initially started writing poetry in Italian. He was also acquainted with very important Italian scholars who encouraged him to immerse himself in the French Enlightenment movement.

Later, when he met Spyridon Trikoupis, who was a historian of the Greek War of Independence, Dionysios was persuaded to start writing his poems in Greek.

3. The Hymn to Liberty:

The Hymn to Liberty was written by Dionysios in May 1823, at a time of great upheaval for the Greek Revolution.

His poem consists of 158 quatrains. It is written in the Heptanese Style of poetry that originated from the Heptanese School of Literature, or literally the Literature School of the Seven Islands.x

READ MORE: On this day in 1865, the “Hymn to Liberty” becomes the National Anthem of Greece.

Between 1828 and 1830, the Hymn to Liberty was set to music by the famous composer Nikolaos Mantzaros and was heard with enthusiasm at national holidays in the Ionian Islands. 

Many years later, in 1865, King George I heard a version of Mantzaros’ composition by the Corfu Philharmonic Society and it made an impression on him. 

This was followed by the Royal Decree of August 4, 1865, which characterised the poem as an “official national anthem” and was to be performed “by all the naval units of the Royal Navy.” 

4. Difficult family life:

Between 1833 to 1838, a series of trials upset Dionysios’ life.

His half-brother (on his mother’s side) claimed that he was also the son of Count Solomos, asking for a portion of the inheritance. Although the result of the trial was in favour of Dionysios, his relationship with his mother was disrupted, mainly due to her attitude.

Nevertheless, the poems he wrote after 1833 are considered to be the most complete and mature of his works. His best poems are The Cretan (1833) and The Free Besieged (1845).

5. Death and Legacy:

On February 3, 1849, Dionysios was awarded the Golden Cross of the Saviour because “with his poetry he aroused the feelings of the people in the struggle for national independence.”

Dionysios died on February 9, 1857 in Corfu, from encephalopathy at the age of 59. His bones were transferred to Zakynthos in 1865 and were initially placed in a small mausoleum in the tomb of Kalvos.

Did you know the Guinness Book of Records ranks the Hellenic language as the richest in the world with 5 million words and 70 million word types?

We’re not surprised as it’s clear the Greek language has had an important influence on the English language.

What kind of influence? This International Greek Language Day we take a closer look.

Brief history of the Greek language:

Greek is one of the oldest Indo-European languages and is usually divided into Ancient Greek and Modern Greek.

Modern Greek is derived from Koine, a common dialect of Ancient Greek that was understood throughout the Greek-speaking world at that time. In the 19th century, Modern Greek became the official language of the Kingdom of Greece.

According to britishcouncil.org, the Ancient Greeks were the first to use a ‘true’ alphabet. That is, one representing both vowels and consonants.

English expressions and words:

Many historians suggest that more than 150,000 words of English are derived from Greek words. These include technical and scientific terms, such as anthropology and photography, but also more common words like dialogue, economy and telephone.

In a typical everyday 80,000-word English dictionary, about 5 percent of the words are directly borrowed from Greek and another 25 percent are borrowed indirectly.

Words that starts with ‘ph-‘ are also usually of Greek origin, for example: philosophy, physical, photo, phrase, philanthropy.

And then there’s common expressions in English which derive from ancient Greek myths and beliefs. Take for example ‘Achilles heel,’ which means to have a weakness or vulnerable point. Achilles was a central character in Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, and his only weakness was his heel.

Source: britishcouncil.org

There’s only day before we celebrate International Greek Language Day on February 9 and to mark the occasion, we just had to have a look at the historical speeches of Greek politician and economist, Xenophon Zolotas.

Born in Athens on 26 April 1904, Zolotas studied economics at the University of Athens, and later studied at the Leipzig University in Germany and the University of Paris in France.

From November 23, 1989 to April 11, 1990, Zolotas also served as the Prime Minister of Greece.

Zolotas was even Director of the Bank of Greece in 1944–1945, 1955–1967 (when he resigned in protest at the regime), and 1974–1981.

It was in this role as Director of the Bank when he first appeared in front of an audience at an International Bank for Reconstruction and Development conference in 1959.

At the time, Zolotas began his speech in English but with Greek words to emphasise the wealth of the Greek language and the fact that countless Greek words enrich English.

“I always wanted to address this Assembly in Greek, but I realised that if I did it would be incomprehensible. I discovered, however, that I could make my speech in Greek, which would still be English to everyone,” Zolotas said at the time.

He then preceded to complete his speech, whilst also grabbing international attention and shifting opinions around Greece and the Civil War.

Small excerpt from one of his speeches:

Kyrie,

I eulogize the archons of the Panethnic Numismatic Thesaurus and the Oecumenical Trapeza for the orthodoxy of their axioms methods and policies, although there is an episode of cacophony of the Trapeza with Hellas.

With enthusiasm we dialogue and synagonize at the synods of our didymous Organizations in which polymorphous economic ideas and dogmas are analyzed and synthesized. Our critical problems such as the numismatic plethora generate some agony and melancholy. This phenomenon is charateristic of our epoch.

But, to my thesis we have the dynamism to program therapeutic practices as a prophylaxis from chaos and catastrophe. In parallel a panethnic unhypocritical economic synergy and harmonization in a democratic climate is basic. I apologize for my eccentric monologue.

I emphasize my eucharistia to your Kyrie to the eugenic and generous American Ethnos and to the organizers and protagonists of this Ampitctyony and the gastronomic symposia.

Source: Famagusta News.